Hong Kong -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Thousands of people filled Hong Kong 's Victoria Park on Saturday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square .

The candlelight vigil comes after recent efforts by the Chinese government to quash would-be demonstrators from holding anti-government protests . About 26 people were arrested between February and March , according to a Hong Kong-based human rights group , when an anonymous group began an internet campaign calling for anti-government protests in China similar to ones that have taken hold in the Middle East .

In response to the campaign , authorities deployed heavy security along major thoroughfares , especially in Wangfujing , a busy shopping street in downtown Beijing that had been designated by the online group for protests . The government also tightened rules on foreign reporters , explicitly warning them that they risk detention , suspension of press cards and expulsion if they show up at planned demonstrations .

20 years on : Tiananmen remembered

Saturday 's protest is an annual event organized by the Hong Kong Alliance , a pro-democracy group . Hong Kong police called it a `` peaceful gathering . ''

Images of the demonstration showed a sea of flickering candles covering the length of the park .

A little more than 22 years ago , students gathered in Tiananmen Square to memorialize the recently deceased Hu Yaobang . He was fired as Communist Party chief in 1987 by Deng Xiaoping for pushing policies deemed too soft toward `` bourgeois-liberal ideas '' and tolerating student protests .

The April 15 memorial quickly turned into a pro-democracy movement , and students held talks with the government and later a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square to press their cause . On June 4 , 1989 , Chinese troops in armored personnel carriers and tanks rumbled toward Tiananmen Square . The soldiers , on strict orders to clear the square of demonstrators , had forced their way through the city 's main thoroughfare .

Along the way , they met fierce resistance from students and city residents who barricaded the streets , so they fired at them .

When the firing stopped , hundreds if not thousands of people lay maimed or dead .

Relatives of victims renew their hopes every year that Beijing 's leaders will reverse the verdict that the protests were a counter-revolutionary rebellion that had to be put down .

CNN 's Aliza Kassim contributed to this report .

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Protesters converge on Hong Kong 's Victoria Park for a candlelight vigil

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It is the 22nd anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters

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The vigil is held after recent efforts to quash anti-government demonstrations